Postmarking and canceling machine



(No Model.) 4 S heets-Sheet 1.

T. LEAVITT. POSTMARKING AND GANGELING MACHINE.

No. 464,329. Patented Deo. 1,'1891.

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4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.

T. LEAVITT. POSTMARKING AND UANOELING MACHINE.

No. 464,329. Patented Deml, 1891.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

T. LEAVITT.

POSTMARKING AND GANGELING MACHINE. No. 464,329. Patented Do. 1, 1891.

' Lwenlaor: I'homas Le rmzy.

4 SheetsSheet 4.

(No Model.)

T. LEAV ITT, POSTMARKING AND GANGELING MACHINE.

No. 464,329. Patented Dec. 1, 1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS LEAVITT, OF EVERETT, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN POSTAL'MACHINES COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

POSTMARKING AND CANCELING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 464,329, dated December 1, 1891.

Application filed February 4, 1891. Serial No. 380,170. (No model.)

1'0 alt whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS LEAVITT, of Everett, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Postmarking and Canceling Machines, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to postmarking and canceling machines, and is an improvement upon the machines described in the Letters Patent Nos. 219,586 and 235,952, granted to me September 16, 1879, and December 28, 1880, respectively; and it consists in certain novel features of construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, which will be readily understood by reference to the description of the drawings, and to the claims hereinafter given, in which my invention is clearly pointed out.

Figure l of the drawings is a front elevation of a machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same with the driving-wheel removed. Fig. 3 is a partial vertical section on line m m on Fig. 1. Fig. 4:

is an elevation of a portion of the end plate of the hopper and the yielding throat-plates, looking toward the right of Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 5 is an elevation of the main yielding throat-plate detached from the machine. Fig. 6 is a plan of a portion of the feed-lever with the two feed-pawls mounted thereon. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the same parts. Fig. 8 is a partial section of the feed-pawl and its carrier on line y y on Fig. 6. Fig. 9 is apartial elevation of the side of the machine opposite to that shown in Fig. 2; and Fig. 10 is an elevation of the wedge h looking toward the hopper. Figs. 4:, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 are drawn to an enlarged scale.

In the drawings, A A are the side frames of the machine connected togetherby the tie- Tods A and A and the throat-plate a and having secured to their rear edges the brackets A, only one of which is shown. To the upper ends of said brackets A are secured the stands a and a and the supports for the bottom and side of the inclined hopper B, the end plate B of which is secured to the front ends of the stands a and a and to the frames A A by the screws 1), as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

O is the driving-shaft mounted in bearings in the frames A, and having secured thereon the fly-wheel G and the spur gear-wheel G which meshes into and imparts motion to the spur gear-wheels D, D, and D as shown in Fig. 2. The gear-Wheel D is secured upon the end of the shaft E, mounted in suitable hearings in the frames A and having secured upon its opposite end outside of the frame A the cam-disk E and the spur gear-wheel E said disk E having formed therein a campath (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 9) which acts upon a truck mounted'on a stud set in the end of the lever F firmly secured on the end of the rocker-shaft F so as to vibrate said lever and oscillate said shaft, and the inner face of the spur gear-wheel E having formed therein a cam-path (also shown in dotted lines in Fig. 9) which in like manner acts upon the free end of the lever G, secured upon the rocker-shaft G, so as to vibrate said lever and oscillate the shaft G. The shaft F has firmly secured thereon between theframes A A the arm E and also has loosely mounted thereon contiguous to said arm E the lever E, which is adj ustably secured to said arm by means of the clamping-screw d and the set-screw cl, and is piv oted at its upper end to the feed-lever H, which in turn is connected at e to theupper end of the link H, the lever end of which is pivoted to the movable end of the lever vG firmly secured upon the shaft G, between the frames A, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The shaft E also has secured thereon between the frames A A the type-cylinder I, the cam J, and the spur gear-wheel J, as shown. The gear- Wheel D is secured upon one end of the short shaft 6', mounted in a bearing in the lefthand frame A and having secured to its opposite end, just inside the frame A, the spur gear-wheel f, which meshes into the back side of and imparts motion to thespur gearwheel f, secured upon the shaft I, mounted in hearings in the upper ends of the radius,

- spring-arms 72 I1 as shown'in Fig. 5.

. the other roll was mounted in movable bear-' so far as above described, except as to the cam J andthe gear-wheel J, the machine is substantially the same as described in my 1880 patent before cited.

In my 1879 patent before cited I used a pair of feed-rolls for presenting the letter or card to thevaction of the type and impression cylinders, one of which rolls was mounted in fixedbearings and had a positive and constant rotary motion imparted thereto, while ings, but was pressed constantly into contact with said first-mentioned roll or the letter or card being passed between them and was rotated only by friction, said roll yielding to permit the letter or card to pass between the two rollsf This arrangement I' have found in practice to be somewhat unsatisfactory, because of the fact that-occasionally the grip upon the letter or card would 'not be sufficient to insure the delivery of said card or letter to the type and impression cylinders at the proper time to place the canceling-marks at the right place thereon. To obviate this objection in my present invention, I mount the rear feed-roll L and operate it in the same manner as described in 'my before-cited 1879 patent; but the front feed-roll L, I mount in bearings in the upper ends of the radius-armsL L mounted loosely upon the shaft E and connected. together at their movable ends by the bar L which is provided at the middle of its length with a pair of cars 11 i, to which is pivoted one end of the link j, the opposite end of which is pivoted to the upper end of the lever M, having its fulcrum at and carrying the roll I, mounted upon the adjustable stud Z in proper position to be acted upon by the cam J to move said roll L away from the roll L, said cam being so shaped and timed as to hold said roll L in said retracted position till the lower end or edge of the letter or card being fed downward by the feed-pawls has reached the level of the axes of said rolls, when. the roll L is moved into contact with the letter or card by the tension of the springs m, the front ends of which are connected one to the upper end of each of the radius-arms L L as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 'A positive and constant rotary motion is imparted to said roll L at all times when the drivingshaft'O is being revolved by means of the pinion 11, secured on said roll, and the intermediate gear-wheel n engaging therewith upon one side, and with the gear-wheel J upon the other side, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Rotary motion is imparted to the roll L by the action of the teeth of the gear-wheel E upon the teeth of the pinion N, said gear and pinion being so proportioned relative to the proportions of the gear J and pinion n that the peripheries of the rolls L and L shall move at the same speed. By this construction and operation of the feed-rolls a uniform and certain presentation of the letters and cards to the action of the type and impression cylinders is assured.

In the machine shown and described in my before-cited 1880 patent the yielding throatplate was so constructed and arranged that when in its normal position its inner surface, at or near its lower edge, was in contact with the edge of the fixed throat-plate, and was not adjustable except to press it harder toward said fixed throat-plate and thus increase its tension. of unreliability, and to obviate it I have set in the yielding throat-plate h the curved screw-stem 77. which projects through an opening in the plate B toward the front of the machine, and has fitted thereon the thumbnut h, between the inner surface of which and the plate B is mounted, so as to be movable vertically, the plate it the lower end of which is made in the form of a blunt wedge and is forked to permit the passage of the stem 7f. The upper end of plate It has a threaded hole formed therein, into which is fitted the threaded lower end of the spindle 0, mounted in a bearing in the stand 0, secured to the front side of the plate B near its upper edge and having secured to its upper end the milled head 0 by which it may be rotated to raise or depress the wedge-plate 7L5 forthe purpose of adjusting the yielding throat-plate to a greater or less distance from the edge of the fixed throat-plate, which may be done while the machine is in operation.

Instead of a single feed-pawl or frictional feed-bar, as shown and described in my before-cited Letters Patent, I now bifurcate the inner end of the lever H and provide each arm thereof with a pair of downwardly-projecting ears 19, between which is fitted the T-shaped lever 19, which is pivoted thereto at q, the outer end of each of said levers p" having pivoted thereto a threaded rod 19 which projects through a smooth hole in the ear g on the lever H, and has fitted thereonone upon each side of said ear-the adjustingnuts r and r. The inner arm of the leverp is expanded laterally, as shown at 1*, Fig. 7, and has loosely pivoted thereto by the screwpivot r the plate 8, provided at its inner end with the ears 8 s and at its outer end with an open slot 8 into which projects the pin Z, set in lever 9 and having a diameter somewhat less than the width of the slot 8 as shown in Fig. 6. The inner ends of the ears 5 s are inclined to a perpendicular and have pivoted thereto by the pin 83 the feed-bar if, having an car i at each end and having its outer edge between said ears inclined to the same bevel as the inner ends of the ears 8 s,

This was found to be a source against which'it abuts, to serve as a stop to limit the upward movement of the bar t relative to the plate .9. f

To the upper surface of the bar t is secured the cap-plate t between which and the bar 25 are secured thetwo needle-like feeding points u u, as shown in the lower half of Fig. 6 and in Fig. 7, or a piece of sheet-rubber M, as shown in the upper half of Fig. 6 and in Fig. 8, which points or rubber serve to engage the forward letter or card in the hopper to feed it down between the fixed and yieldingthroat-plates. Acoiled spring a is wound around the pin 5 and is connected at one end to the plate 3 and at the other end to the bar 25' in such a manner that its tension tends to maintain the bar t in its normal or raised position in contact with the inclined ends of the ears 8 3', while it will yield to permit the feed-bar to move about its pivotal axis when the feed-rolls have seized the letter and are moving it downward faster than the pawls are moving by the action of the lever H, so as not to injure the letter or card. The object of pivoting the plate 8 and allowing a slight movement thereof about said pivot is to permit a slight lateral movement of the feed-pawl, so that it may accommodate itself to any unevenness in the surface of the letter due to an increased thickness of material in one end of the envelope. The feed-bars or frictional feeding-surfaces carried by the inner ends of the lever H have imparted thereto, by means ofthe cams E and E and the levers F, G, E, and G the link H, and the rocker-shafts F and G, four motionsviz., a forward motion, a downward motion, a backward motion,and an upward motion. The plate B, forming the front end of the hopper, has cut through it the two slots 13 B for the passage of the feed-pawls, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4. A thin curved plate It is pivoted near. its upper edge to two of the ribs h of the plate B, and bears at its lower edge against the inner surface of the throat-plate h", as shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

The letters and cards to be canceled and the follower for pressing them toward the front and into contact with the ribs h of the plate B are not shown in the drawings, because the letters and cards are arranged in the hopper and the follower is constructed and operates precisely as shown and described in my before-cited 1880 patent.

.What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. In combination with a pair of printingcylinders and a hopper arranged above said cylinders and provided with a throat for the passage of the letters to be canceled, a pair of positively-revolved feed-rolls, one of which is mounted in movable bearings, a cam con structed and arranged to move said bearings and the roll mounted therein toward and from the other roll of the pair, and mechanism for feeding the letter or card through the throat of the hopper and into the bite of said feedrolls, comprising the forked lever H, the T- shaped levers p, pivoted to the inner forked ends of said lever H, the pivoted bars 15, secured to said levers p and each provided with engaging points or frictional surfaces, springs to maintain said bars 15' in their normal positions relative to-the levers p, the levers F,

G, E, and G the link H the rocker-shafts F and G, and the cams E and E all construct-, ed, arranged, and adapted to operate substantially as described.

- 2. The combination, with the spring throatto limit said lateral movement, the feed-bar t, connected to said plate 8 by a stop hingejoint and provided with letter-engagin g points or frictional surfaces, and a spring constructed and arranged to maintain said pawl-bar in its normal or raised. position and to yieldwhen the feed-rolls are acting upon the let-.

ter or card, substantially as described.

4. In a postmarking and canceling Inachine, the combination of a pair of printingcylinders, a hopper for receiving the letters or cards to be stamped, a pair of positivelyrevolved feed-rolls between said hopper and printing-cylinders, and a four-motion feeding device provided with a stop-hinge pivoted feed, constructed and arranged to engage the front letter or card in the hopper and feed it between the feed-rolls and then yield downward as the letter or card is seized and drawn away by the feed-rolls, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 30th day of January, A. D. 1891.

, THOMAS LEAVITT.

Witnesses: I N. O. LOMBARD, XVALTER E. LOMBARD.

IIO 

